***EXTRA SHOW ADDED*** Tickets Available
SHOW 1 : 5:00pm til 6:30pm (doors open 4:30pm)
SHOW 2: 8:00pm til 9:30pm (doors open 7:30pm)
Join Us for an Unforgettable Evening of Laughter and insights with the Brilliant helen lederer
Helen Lederer is taking her highly regarded, hilariously honest memoir, Not That I’m Bitter, on the road to celebrate the release of the paperback (with added revelations) coming in April.
Stephen Fry says:
“Dizzy, dippy and divinely funny Helen Lederer takes you on an insanely readable tour through her chaotically wonderful life. Under her costume of the madcap and the daft, there ticks a very, very smart brain and there beats a most warm and kindly heart. It’s a wonderful read.”
Not That I Am Bitter
Not That I’m Bitter tells the story of Helen’s journey from being what her mother called a “show-off” to becoming a trailblazer in the male-dominated world of Alternative Comedy.
Her memoir is a mix of joy, sadness, hilarity and startling self-revelation – woven together with a witty narrative that delivers real punch. This is a powerful, frank, moving and characteristically funny memoir, revealing exactly how choppy the waters could be. Even in those ground-breaking, anti-Thatcher days, there was only room at the top for so many women. For the rest, it was as much a struggle to be seen and heard in the world of comedy as in any boardroom or workplace – and just as difficult to avoid the predators. But this is more than the story of one decade. The child of a Czech wartime refugee, Helen was never part of the mainstream. Her memoir is bursting with big laughs and poignant moments, but it’s the way Helen describes her stories of absurdity, success and failure that really has the power to connect with an audience.
• What does it take to break into comedy when women were often seen as “high maintenance” for daring to write and send a script to the BBC?
• How do humour and tenacity help combat lifelong struggles with weight, self-esteem, and anxiety?
• How do you cope with constant self-sabotage and when, despite enormous success, you still feel like a failure?
• Why were the ’80s both the best and worst of times for a woman with sharp jokes and a sharper tongue?
Loved by her Peers
“Dizzy, dippy and divinely funny Helen Lederer takes you on an insanely readable tour through her chaotically wonderful life. Under her costume of the madcap and the daft, there ticks a very, very smart brain and there beats a most warm and kindly heart. It’s a wonderful read.” Stephen Fry
“This wildly entertaining ride through Helen’s fabulous life is funny, adorable, and thought-provoking in equal measure, rather like the dazzling author herself.” Joanna Lumley
“Helen’s book is funny, wise, brilliant, and brave Just like its author. A fascinating trip through the life and times of one of the early (and not sufficiently recognised) heroes of Alternative Comedy.” Ben Elton
“Helen Lederer is the third funniest woman in the world.” Dawn French
“This is a book you should open. Her progression through the comedy swamp of the eighties is fascinating, poignant and laugh-out-loudly.” Jo Brand
About the author:
Helen Lederer is a writer, actress, comedian, and presenter. Apart from TV, stage, and radio, she’s best known as Catriona, the dippy journalist in the TV series Absolutely Fabulous – although, her stay in the Big Brother house caused a different kind of notoriety. More recently she has provided the love interest for Ken Barlow in Coronation Street and been an online shoe fetishist in ITV’s Midsummer Murders. Her novel, Losing It, was nominated for the PG Wodehouse comedy literary prize. In 2018, Helen set up the Comedy Women in Print Prize (CWIP), to celebrate and enable witty women writers.